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Hachette closes US print edition of Premier

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Hachette Filipacchi is going online-only with the American edition of Premier. The monthly is the third title from the European publisher to close its US print edition in the past year.

First to close its print edition last year was Shock, the American version of Hachette's big-selling French magazine the specialises in sensational pictures and stories. It only lasted six months in the US.

Then came the closing of Elle Girl. The third to go was For Me, a women's life-style mag that lasted little over a year.

Premier failed to reach its promised rate base of 500,000 — and ad pages fell almost 25 per cent for the whole of last year.

Jack Kliger, president and chief executive of Hachette, said Premiere's web site will provide a bigger than normal amount of Hollywood news, interviews and movie reviews – on a daily basis.

The move is in line with the company's new policy to determine the best policy for all its titles and invest more in digital.

The unfortunate thing, he admitted, was the number of people who would be leaving the company as a result. At least 25 staff at Premiere will he admitted lose their jobs.

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The international edition of Premiere will not be affected, he assured.

Still waiting to be decided is the future of the US editions of Maxim, Stuff and Blender magazines, which Dennis Publishing has put up for sale.

Several companies here including Hearst and Time Inc are said to be interested in one or other of the titles. Asking price for the packages is said to be $250 million. Not included in the sale is the US edition of The Week, which is still considered the owner Felix Dennis's favourite.